Antoine Brumel is perhaps best known to modern audiences as the composer of the magnificent 12-voice Mass Et ecce terre motus. This disc presents only the third of his Masses to be recorded. The cycle on Victimae paschali laudes is a fine example of Dorian-mode writing, reminiscent at times of Busnois’s Masses in this mode. More positively sixteenth century in outlook are the motets, which alternate chordal and contrapuntal passages with a compelling sense of architecture (especially in the monumental Ave virgo gloriosa, whose final Amen compresses the contrapuntal argument in a very effective stretto).
For light monophonic relief, The Hilliard Ensemble present a few of the little-recorded anonymous Italian laude, strophic spiritual songs. This is a generous programme, then, recorded live as this series dictates. The performances are polished and thoughtful, if a little on the staid side (especially with regard to tempo in certain motets – Mater Patris, for instance). In some of the laude, there is an attempt to respond to the overtly graphic imagery (of the Crucifixion, for example), but it seems a shame that these incomparable singers should require such overt cues for interpretative licence; one cannot help listening to the “Osanna” of the Mass, for instance, without sensing that it might have sounded even more dynamic and exciting. In a live performance, though, one accepts that certain pieces will ‘happen’ more effectively than others. Perhaps that is a risk worth taking.'